1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method which are capable of transmitting data by designating a transmission destination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for an information processing apparatus which is capable of transmitting data by designating a transmission destination, there has been proposed a technique related to protection of personal information in user-specific address books each of which comprises items of transmission destination information which can be accessed only by an associated registered user (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-114992). To use transmission destination information stored in each user-specific address book, authentication is required to confirm that the user is a registered user.
However, if an address book which can be accessed by all the users of the information processing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “the apparatus users' shared address book”) is managed in addition to the user-specific address books, it is envisaged that transmission destination information is transferred from the user-specific address books to the apparatus users' shared address book. For example, if a user B wishes to use transmission destination information registered by a user A in a user-specific address book for dedicated use by the user A, it is necessary to transfer the transmission destination from the user A's address book to the apparatus users' shared address book.
However, if the user A's personal information is contained in the transmission destination information to be transferred to the apparatus users' shared address book, a problem occurs that the transfer of the transmission destination information to the apparatus users' shared address book makes the user A's personal information accessible to an indefinite number of users who use the information processing apparatus. The personal information includes, for example, authentication information for logging in to a server which is a destination of data transmission. The authentication information, which comprises e.g. a user name and a password, is for indicating that the user attempting to connect to the server is authorized to connect to the server. Therefore, if the user A's authentication information is made accessible to an unspecified number of users, there is a fear that spoofing or the like occurs, thereby causing a security problem.